1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to use of a novel modified composition of synthetic ultra-large pore crystalline material in a process for separating at least one component from a mixture of components. The separation process comprises contacting the mixture with the modified composition of synthetic ultra-large pore crystalline material to selectively sorb therefrom at least one component thereof. The crystalline material modification comprises incorporating functional groups into the crystalline material by a particular method and the modified composition for use herein is the product of that method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Porous inorganic solids have found great utility as catalysts and separations media for industrial application. The openness of their microstructure allows molecules access to the relatively large surface areas of these materials that enhance their catalytic and sorptive activity. The porous materials in use today can be sorted into three broad categories using the details of their microstructure as a basis for classification. These categories are the amorphous and paracrystalline supports, the crystalline molecular sieves and modified layered materials. The detailed differences in the microstructures of these materials manifest themselves as important differences in the catalytic and sorptive behavior of the materials, as well as in differences in various observable properties used to characterize them, such as their surface area, the sizes of pores and the variability in those sizes, the presence or absence of X-ray diffraction patterns and the details in such patterns, and the appearance of the materials when their microstructure is studied by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction methods.
Amorphous and paracrystalline materials represent an important class of porous inorganic solids that have been used for many years in industrial applications. Typical examples of these materials are the amorphous silicas commonly used in catalyst formulations and the paracrystalline transitional aluminas used as solid acid catalysts and petroleum reforming catalyst supports. The term "amorphous" is used here to indicate a material with no long range order and can be somewhat misleading, since almost all materials are ordered to some degree, at least on the local scale. An alternate term that has been used to described these materials is "X-ray indifferent." The microstructure of the silicas consists of 100-250 Angstrom particles of dense amorphous silica (Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd ed., vol. 20, p. 766-781 (1982)), with the porosity resulting from voids between the particles. Since there is no long range order in these materials, the pore sizes tend to be distributed over a rather large range. This lack of order also manifests itself in the X-ray diffraction pattern, which is usually featureless.
Paracrystalline materials such as the transitional aluminas also have a wide distribution of pore sizes, but better defined X-ray diffraction patterns usually consisting of a few broad peaks. The microstructure of these materials consists of tiny crystalline regions of condensed alumina phases and the porosity of the materials results from irregular voids between these regions (K. Wefers and Chanakya Misra, "Oxides and Hydroxides of Aluminum," Technical Paper No. 19, rev., Alcoa Research Laboratories, p. 54-59 (1987)). Since, in the case of either material, there is no long range order controlling the sizes of pores in the material, the variability in pore size is typically quite high. The sizes of pores in these materials fall into a regime called the mesoporous range, which, for the purposes of this application, is from about 13 to 200 Angstroms.
In sharp contrast to these structurally ill-defined solids are materials whose pore size distribution is very narrow because it is controlled by the precisely repeating crystalline nature of the materials' microstructure. These materials are called "molecular sieves", the most important examples of which are zeolites.
Zeolites, both natural and synthetic, have been demonstrated in the past to have catalytic properties for various types of hydrocarbon conversion. Certain zeolitic materials are ordered, porous crystalline aluminosilicates having a definite crystalline structure as determined by X-ray diffraction, within which there are a large number of smaller cavities which may be interconnected by a number of still smaller channels or pores. These cavities and pores are uniform in size within a specific zeolite material. Since the dimensions of these pores are such as to accept for adsorption molecules of certain dimensions while rejecting those of larger dimensions, these materials are known as "molecular sieves" and are utilized in a variety of ways to take advantage of these properties.
Such molecular sieves, both natural and synthetic, include a wide variety of positive ion-containing crystalline silicates. These silicates can be described as a rigid three-dimensional framework of SiO.sub.4 and Periodic Table Group IIIB element oxide, e.g., AlO.sub.4, in which the tetrahedra are cross-linked by the sharing of oxygen atoms whereby the ratio of the total Group IIIB element, e.g., aluminum, and Group IVB element, e.g., silicon, atoms to oxygen atoms is 1:2. The electrovalence of the tetrahedra containing the Group IIIB element, e.g., aluminum, is balanced by the inclusion in the crystal of a cation, for example, an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal cation. This can be expressed wherein the ratio of the Group IIIB element, e.g., aluminum, to the number of various cations, such as Ca/2, Sr/2, Na, K or Li, is equal to unity. One type of cation may be exchanged either entirely or partially with another type of cation utilizing ion exchange techniques in a conventional manner. By means of such cation exchange, it has been possible to vary the properties of a given silicate by suitable selection of the cation. The spaces between the tetrahedra are occupied by molecules of water prior to dehydration.
Prior art techniques have resulted in the formation of a great variety of synthetic zeolites. Many of these zeolites have come to be designated by letter or other convenient symbols, as illustrated by zeolite A (U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,243); zeolite X (U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,244); zeolite Y (U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,007); zeolite ZK-5 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,195); zeolite ZK-4 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,752); zeolite ZSM-5 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,886); zeolite ZSM-11 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,979); zeolite ZSM-12 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,449); zeolite ZSM-20 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,983); ZSM-35 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,245); and zeolite ZSM-23 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,842), merely to name a few.
The SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of a given zeolite is often variable. For example, zeolite X can be synthesized with SiO.sub.2 Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratios of from 2 to 3; zeolite Y, from 3 to about 6. In some zeolites, the upper limit of the SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio is unbounded. ZSM-5 is one such example wherein the SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio is at least 5 and up to the limits of present analytical measurement techniques. U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,871 (Re. 29,948) discloses a porous crystalline silicate made from a reaction mixture containing no deliberately added alumina in the recipe and exhibiting the X-ray diffraction pattern characteristic of ZSM-5. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,061,724; 4,073,865 and 4,104,294 describe crystalline silicate of varying alumina and metal content.
Aluminum phosphates are taught in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,310,440 and 4,385,994, for example. These aluminum phosphate materials have essentially electroneutral lattices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,704 teaches an aluminum phosphate treated in a certain way to impart acidity.
An early reference to a hydrated aluminum phosphate which is crystalline until heated at about 110.degree. C., at which point it becomes amorphous or transforms, is the "H1" phase or hydrate of aluminum phosphate of F.d'Yvoire, Memoir Presented to the Chemical Society, No. 392, "Study of Aluminum Phosphate and Trivalent Iron," Jul. 6, 1961 (received), p. 1762-1776. This material, when crystalline, is identified by the JCPDS International Center for Diffraction Data card number 15-274. Once heated at about 110.degree. C.; however, the d'Yvoire material becomes amorphous or transforms to the aluminophosphate form of tridymite.
Compositions comprising crystals having a framework topology after heating at 110.degree. C. higher giving an X-ray diffraction pattern consistent with a material having pore windows formed by 18 tetrahedral members of about 12-13 Angstroms in diameter are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,611.
A naturally occurring, highly hydrated basic ferric oxyphosphate mineral, cacoxenite, is reported by Moore and Shen, Nature, Vol. 306, No. 5941, p. 356-358 (1983) to have a framework structure containing very large channels with a calculated free pore diameter of 14.2 Angstroms. R. Szostak et al., Zeolites: Facts Figures, Future, Elsevier Science Publishers B. V. (1989), present work showing cacoxenite as being very hydrophilic, i.e., adsorbing non-polar hydrocarbons only with great difficulty. Their work also shows that thermal treatment of cacoxenite causes an overall decline in X-ray peak intensity.
Silicoaluminophosphates of various structures are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,871. Aluminosilicates containing phosphorous, i.e., silicoaluminophosphates of particular structures are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,355,246 (i.e., ZK-21) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,964 (i.e., ZK-22). Other teachings of silicoaluminophosphates and their synthesis include U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,559 (two-phase synthesis method); U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,527 (MCM-10); U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,358 (MCM-1); U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,442 (MCM-2); U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,897 (MCM-4); U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,357 (MCM-5); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,811 (MCM-3).
A method for synthesizing crystalline metalloaluminophosphates is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,227, and an antimonophosphoaluminate and the method for its synthesis are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,818. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,029 teaches metalloaluminophosphates, and titaniumaluminophosphate and the method for its synthesis are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,651.
The phosphorus-substituted zeolites of Canadian Patents 911,416; 911,417; and 911,418 are referred to as "aluminosilicophosphate" zeolites. Some of the phosphorus therein appears to be occluded, not structural.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,748 describes a combination of silica and aluminum-calcium-cerium phosphate as a low acid activity catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation. Great Britain Patent 2,068,253 discloses a combination of silica and aluminum-calcium-tungsten phosphate as a low acid activity catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,036 teaches an alumina-aluminum phosphate-silica matrix as an amorphous body to be mixed with zeolite for use as cracking catalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,035 teaches improving hardness of aluminosilicate catalysts by treatment with phosphoric acid. The catalysts are amorphous.
Other patents teaching aluminum phosphates include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,365,095; 4,361,705; 4,222,896; 4,210,560; 4,179,358; 4,158,621; 4,071,471; 4,014,945; 3,904,550; and 3,697,550.
The precise crystalline microstructure of most zeolites manifests itself in a well-defined X-ray diffraction pattern that usually contains many sharp maxima and that serves to uniquely define the material. Similarly, the dimensions of pores in these materials are very regular, due to the precise repetition of the crystalline microstructure. All molecular sieves discovered to date have pore sizes in the microporous range, which is usually quoted as 2 to 20 Angstroms, with the largest reported being about 12 Angstroms.
Certain layered materials, which contain layers capable of being spaced apart with a swelling agent, may be pillared to provide materials having a large degree of porosity. Examples of such layered materials include clays. Such clays may be swollen with water, whereby the layers of the clay are spaced apart by water molecules. Other layered materials are not swellable with water, but may be swollen with certain organic swelling agents such as amines and quaternary ammonium compounds. Examples of such non-water swellable layered materials are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,648 and include layered silicates, magadiite, kenyaite, trititanates and perovskites. Another example of a non-water swellable layered material, which can be swollen with certain organic swelling agents, is a vacancy-containing titanometallate material, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,006.
Once a layered material is swollen, the material may be pillared by interposing a thermally stable substance, such as silica, between the spaced apart layers. The aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,831,006 and 4,859,648 describe methods for pillaring the non-water swellable layered materials described therein and are incorporated herein by reference for definition of pillaring and pillared materials.
Other patents teaching pillaring of layered materials and the pillared products include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,216,188; 4,248,739; 4,176,090; and 4,367,163; and European Patent Application 205,711.
The X-ray diffraction patterns of pillared layered materials can vary considerably, depending on the degree that swelling and pillaring disrupt the otherwise usually well-ordered layered microstructure. The regularity of the microstructure in some pillared layered materials is so badly disrupted that only one peak in the low angle region on the X-ray diffraction pattern is observed, at a d-spacing corresponding to the interlayer repeat in the pillared material. Less disrupted materials may show several peaks in this region that are generally orders of this fundamental repeat. X-ray reflections from the crystalline structure of the layers are also sometimes observed. The pore size distribution in these pillared layered materials is narrower than those in amorphous and paracrystalline materials but broader than that in crystalline framework materials.
Various porous inorganic solids have been subjected to ion exchange, impregnation, codeposition, adsorption from a gaseous phase, introduction of compounds during crystallization and adsorption of metal vapor to introduce catalytically active components into their pore cavities or onto their surfaces. Functionalization as in the present invention differs in kind from these treatment processes.
Various methods have also been used to derivatize or add functional groups to the interior of the pores or to the exterior surfaces of previously known porous inorganic solids, such as the amorphous silicas or the crystalline zeolites.
The hydrolysis of alkyl compounds to generate functional groups has been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,414. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,414, a zeolite is modified by first treating the zeolite to remove organic templating ions, calcining, cation exchanging or increasing SiO.sub.2 Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio to generate isolated reactive sites, then contacting with organosilanes for silylation. Only isolated silanol hydroxyl groups or strained bridge sites can be reacted, therefore the percentage of modified sites in the zeolite is low. In addition, careful pre-modification preparation of the zeolite and anhydrous conditions are necessary.
Amorphous silicas have been derivatized by silylation. W. E. Rudzinski, et al., "Synthesis, Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Characterization and Chromatographic Evaluation of a Diphenylphosphine-Octadecylsilane Hybrid Bonded Phase," Journal of Chromatography, 323, p. 281-296 1985) describes the derivatization of silica gel. See also C. A. Fyfe, et al., "Quantitatively Reliable Silicon-29 Magic-Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra of Surfaces and Surface-Immobilized Species at High Field Using a Conventional High-Resolution Spectrometer," J. Phys. Chem., 89, p. 277-281 (1985); D. W. Sindorf, et al., "Silicon-29 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Hydroxyl Sites on Dehydrated Silica Gel Surfaces, Using Silylation as a Probe," J. Phys. Chem., 87, p. 5516-5521 (1983); D. W. Sindorf et al., "Cross-Polarization/Magic-Angle Spinning Silicon-29 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Silica Gel Using Trimethylsilane Bonding as a Probe of Surface Geometry and Reactivity," J. Phys. Chem., 86, p. 5208-5219 (1982); H. Colin, et al., "Introduction to Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography," Journal of Chromatography, 141, p. 289-312 (1977); J. B. Peri et al., "The Surface Structure of Silica Gel," J. Phys. Chem., 72, p. 2926-2933 (1968).
Layered silicates have also been derivatized. J. M. Rojo, et al., "Si MAS-NMR Spectra of Lamellar Silicic Acid H-magadiite and its Trimethylsilyl Derivative, " Z. anoro. allo. Chem., 540/541, p. 227-233 (1986) reported that although magadiite contains 37% of its silicons as silanols, (6.2 meq/g), no more than 30% of these silanol sites reacted with hexamethyldisilazane, even when the magadiite was swelled with an organic.
As described above in this background discussion, the differences in microstructures of porous inorganic solids e.g., materials such as amorphous silica, layered materials and zeolites, result in important differences in the chemistry of these materials. Therefore, it is not possible to predicate a model for functionalization of the present ultra-large pore crystalline material based on derivatization of other porous inorganic solids.
Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a sorption separation process using as separation media a novel ultra-large pore crystalline material which has been functionalized by a particular method.
It is a further object to provide a separation process using as separation media a novel ultra-large pore crystalline material which has been treated by a method for adjusting the pore size of the crystalline material by reactions forming functional groups within the pores.
It is a further object to provide a separation process using as separation media a novel ultra-large pore crystalline material which has been treated by a method for adjusting the relative hydrophobicity in the pores of the crystalline material by reactions forming functional groups within the pores.
It is another object to provide a separation process using as separation media a novel ultra-large pore crystalline material which has been treated by a method by which essentially all, i.e., over 90%, of the hydroxyls within the pores can be functionalized.
It is yet another object to provide a separation process using as separation media a novel ultra-large pore crystalline material which has been treated by a method to incorporate functional groups within the pore structure of the crystalline material.